On Monday, Indonesia was struck by a 5.6 magnitude earthquake, near the densely populated town of Cianjur, West Java province at 1:21 local time. According to a statement from West Java governor Ridwan Kamil, Approximately 268 people have perished in the disaster, and 1000 more received serious injuries, while 151 people remain missing.
The country’s national disaster management agency (BNBP) said in a statement that till now, hundreds of rescuers have been dispatched to Cianjur. A government official from Cianjur, Herman Suherman said, as many as 140 aftershocks have been recorded till now, and many homes and buildings collapsed immediately, killing occupants within mere minutes, while many remain trapped in the rubble.
BNPB major general Suharyanto addressed the situation as extremely grim and worrisome, as rescue work is becoming harder due to heavy rains triggering landslides, burying entire villages in many instances. He added that rescue teams continue to traverse the impacted area on foot and motorcycle but due to heavy landslides along with ongoing tremors, road connections have been severed in many places.
According to the country’s Disaster Mitigation Agency, nearly 22,000 homes were reduced to rubble and over 58,000 people have been displaced. Kamil added that due to the time of noon, most of the children were in school. The powerful earthquake decimated near about 80 schools in the district, and many of the children perished due to falling debris and collapsing of buildings.
Those who were able to make it to safety described the moment when the quake hit as a harrowing experience. Teachers ran out of their classrooms with the school children to open fields, and watched as the buildings around them turned to rubble in front of their very eyes.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited the disaster-struck area on Tuesday and instructed rescue crews to speed up rescue efforts and prioritize the rescue of people still trapped in the rubble of the fallen buildings. He further addressed that owners of heavily damaged properties will be given up to $3,200 in compensation, and added that damaged or completely destroyed buildings should be rebuilt as earthquake-resistant.
Meanwhile, United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin conveyed his "deepest condolences" during his speech at the ASEAN multilateral meeting in Cambodia on Tuesday.
The geographic location of Indonesia is directly juxtaposed with the Pacific Ring of Fire. Stretching from Japan to Indonesia on one end to California and South America on the other, it is one of the most seismically active places on the planet and has a history of frequent volcanic activities and earthquakes.
Back in 2004, a massive tsunami triggered by a 9.1 magnitude quake off Sumatra island in northern Indonesia sent waves across 14 countries, killing nearly 226,000 people along the Indian Ocean coastline, with more than half the number in Indonesia. While in 2018, nearly 2,000 people were killed due to an earthquake on the Island of Sulawesi.
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